Community Meeting Guidelines

Guidelines for NorCal CarciNET Community Meetings

We recognize that our meetings can be very large with time constraints and that its purpose is to be educational and emotionally supportive, as well as, social. We care about each one of you and hope that this group will meet your needs while functioning for the overall benefit of the group.

SPEAKER PRESENTATIONS: We are asking each person to limit his/her questions or comments during the presentation. Most of our presenters have been very generous with their time by graciously allowing for Q & A at the end of their talk. Please have a notebook, paper, and pen available to jot down your questions for later discussion.

CONFIDENTIALITY: Although we cannot enforce confidentiality, we trust the integrity of each participant to honor it. Personal information remains within the confines of the meeting. However, it may be at the discretion of the board or facilitator to review issues amongst their peers in order to gain insight that benefits the group as a whole.

TIME: We recognize that many participants come great distances to our group. Because there is so much to accomplish in our meetings, please try to arrive on time (noon at UCSF, 1pm at Cancer Support Community), so that we may begin as soon as possible. For the same reason, we would like to end our meetings at our stated time (2pm at UCSF and 4pm at Cancer Support Community) However, should you need more emotional support or personal time than what is available , several board members & the facilitator will remain onsite to be of help to you.

RESPECT: We respect that you may feel very vulnerable addressing personal issues & feelings in the group—especially if you are new or are in crisis. Tears, fears, frustration, and anger are all part of this illness and although we share a common disease, each person deals with it individually. Please be tolerant of other’s ways of needing more time and our support than you may need. Please be respectful of each and every person in the group - we are all in this together.